Nicaragua's Pacific coastline

Our final 5 days in Nicaragua were spent on the pacific coast, in the seaside village of San Juan del Sur (SJDS). SJDS has a bit of a bad rap and some say it's too touristic, but we found it to be an excellent place to base ourselves for purposes of comfort and convenience.

There's a small, lovely, and very active Catholic church in the central plaza where people gather around, and the locals still shop for their fruits and vegetables in the central mercado. The town beach however is not really the main attraction for the intrepid traveler, and though it's lined with a nice malecon and many beachfront restaurants, we didn't spend much day time in town.

By night however, we dined in several of the town's excellent expat-owned eateries -- one of which was owned by a young couple originally from Santa Cruz and San Anselmo. We found SJDS had an interesting mix of traditional, local life, and traveler/surfer/expat life. There's a coexistence and living together side-by-side that makes for an intriguing, cultural intermingling -- and we enjoyed a bit of it all.

By day we hired a friendly, non-English speaking driver named Juan to take us to and fro, allowing us to visit the many beaches both north and south of town. We went to Playa Maderas and had a great day, lounging in the sun, picnicking on canned tuna and cerveza, and then body surfing and boogie-boarding (Deb) in fun-sized, fast and hollow breakers.

Deb is getting braver and stronger in the surf, and she had a wave riding breakthrough that day - and in all the days to follow.

The next day we hit Playa El Coco, which is about 50 mins south of SJDS. Our daily routine became snacking on our pre-packed lunch of canned tuna/sardines and cerveza, then playing in the surf, lazing, reading, and lounging the day away on near deserted beaches.

We ventured north to Playa Mathilda and this was probably our favorite of all the beaches we were able to access around here, and there we spent yet another full day at play. Mathilda was even more scenic and beautiful than the others, and again we found some good rideable surf in which to frolic. We also saw Playa Majahual, and revisited Madera for more of our daily beach rituals ... perfecto! All of the beaches that we explored in this region were pristine, clean, and nearly empty of people, and we never once felt threatened or concerned (though we had heard some tales of troubles).

The roads were all very rough and unpaved in the area (except in the zona central), with few road markers, and many a challenging, curvy, and dusty hillside to negotiate. We were very glad to have our amigo Juan to taxi us to our chosen destinations, as these were not easy navigation's to accomplish. Along the way to these spots we saw much simple local life and traditional ways of living. Every home had a water-well out front, with the cows and goats, roosters and hens, pigs and horses all running about in the countryside. Women and small children carried their machete knives, and horse (and sometimes) ox-drawn carts rolled down the dusty streets. There are lots of very cute children, and the young women are dark-haired beauties. We enjoyed good coffee and colorful sunsets, met new friends both local and travelers from other lands, and saw much that was different from our ordinary, "modern lifestyles."

We also heard how much the area has changed since the "old days" and we noted that much more change was afoot. Land is being bought up by the "wealthy" foreigners, and there are large new hillside homes being built. Some of the roads will soon be paved, and more and bigger development will inevitably come. These beaches and coves are still rather inaccessible - but this will not always be the case. There's already a 12-hole Frisbee golf disc course on the dusty road on the way to Playa Maderas - seemingly way off the beaten track - for now! We are glad that we came here before the area becomes less authentic, and our adventures in this country have been both diverse and mind-expanding.

These travels afford us new perspective to more fully appreciate the good fortune with which we've been bestowed. We're humbled by, and grateful for these opportunities to see how the other side lives, and we hope to continue to learn and grow along the way.

Nicaragua: Colonial Granada and tranquillo Ometepe

The next stop on our Nicaraguan journey took us to the Colonial city of Granada, the oldest in all the America´s (established in the early 1500s). We found a wonderful hotel, The Hotel Colonial (but of course) and settled in for a 3-night stay. Granada is very clean and quaint for a city, with all the typical features - a shaded central plaza, ancient churches, and old-world architecture. There´s a nice mix of local life and travelers amenities as many ex-pats live in the city. One street is completely blocked off to traffic and is lined with outdoor cafes and a vibrant street scene - perfect for people watching with many children performers in colorful attire (stilt walkers, break dancers, etc.). We rode an old-school horse and carriage around the streets and viewed the cathedrals, local markets and the malecon (boardwalk) along the huge Lake Nicaragua - the largest fresh water lake in Central America.

On Stevo´s birthday (Feb 11) we took a trip up to nearby Mombacho Volcano, where we rode in a large, open-aired Mercedes army truck to the volcano peak and into the tropical cloud forest high above. The air was refreshingly damp and much cooler than in the city, and we strolled through the forest and around the entire crater (dormant) whilst viewing the colorful bird life, the butterflies, and the jungle terrain. There were grand vistas of the shimmering lake and the many isletas (small islands) dotting the shoreline near Granada - far below.

 Another adventure found us in a rented kayak and on a self-guided tour of those same isletas on the lake. This was a great way to see the waterways that surround the lush little islands and again we saw abundant bird life and had some fantastic volcano views - enjoying calm waters in our small boat.

We moved on after a wonderful time in the city and escaped to peaceful Isla de Ometepe, a twin-peaked volcanic island in the center of Lake Nicaragua. The hour-long ferry ride was mostly uneventful and we landed ashore then taxied to the nature preserve called Charco Verde finding a rustic jungle lodge on the edge of the forest reserve. Hiking through the lagoon area and into the jungle allowed us to get very close to the slow moving howler monkeys that are living in the trees, and the overall natural scenery was green and spectacular.
 

Day 2 on Ometepe was Valentine´s day, and we celebrated with a guided tour by mini-van around the rather large island, enjoying the great views of the Conception and Madera volcanoes. Our guide, Henry Luiz, showed us the ancient petroglyphs, the lovely wind-swept beaches of Santo Domingo, and a forested, natural mineral spring called Ojo de Aqua, which was perfect for a refreshingly cool swim. We definitely felt the healing powers of the springs that bubble up from beneath, as we floated and soaked in the pools.

Along our way we've been savoring the delicious national rum - Flor de Caña - (as well as the more than occasional cold Toña ceverza), eating meals both international and typico, and mixing with wonderful new traveler friends and many friendly local people, while brushing up on our minimal but good-enough Spanish.

More pics

Nicaragua: Exploring the Corn Islands

Here we are in lovely Nicaragua, having started off the journey by heading right from Managua and going directly to the Caribbean side of the country bound for the tiny Corn Islands by small propeller plane. Landing on the dirt runway we could see straight away that this was our kind of place. The swaying coconut palms and simple local life was there in abundance, and for $1 US we could hire a taxi to take us to any corner of Big Corn Island (not so big, but certainly a bit larger than Little Corn Is.). We found our temporary new home to be just right, with a sweet infinity pool that overlooked the turquoise sea.

Our days were filled with funtastic Caribbean-style adventure mixed together with some relaxation, and lots of socializing with both local amigos and new found traveler friends - many from wintery Canada. Being the Caribbean, there was decent snorkeling amongst colorful coral and sealife, and many a deserted, white sandy beach to laze on and/or toss the frisbee. One day we had an especially fun round of frisbee with some local kids who didn´t speak a word of English - yet the flying disc was all we needed to communicate that we were ready to have some fun. It seemed that the niños (kids) had not seen much frisbee action in the past - but like children all around the globe they were fast to learn and filled with laughter.

On another day we ferried out to Little Corn Island - so tiny that there are no roads - hence no motorized vehicles, spending our time there strolling around the entire shoreline and taking dips into the warm sea - with the occasional break to quaff the tasty, icey cold, Tona beer (also $1 US)!

We also had an opportunity to watch the Superbowl - an unexpected treat - and we cheered most loudly during the rockin´ halftime show featuring The Who (our team). Everyone we met on these islands were kind and friendly, and we thoroughly enjoyed the tranquillo vibe that permeates this most authentic Caribbean corner of Nicaragua.